(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system for a multi-projection room cinema.
(2) Related Art
In recent years, multiplex cinemas have become more popular. Old cinemas typically only had two or three projection rooms, each projection room including at least one projector and a sound system for showing a movie. Typically, a projection operator moves from room to room switching projectors on and off, raising and lowering curtains, dimming lights and controlling sound systems. Most of these tasks were performed at the beginning and end of a movie allowing the projection operator to start and end movies in a first room while a movie was playing in a second room. Modern modem multiplex cinemas have many rooms making it difficult for one projection operator to synchronize movies such that all movies playing in a cinema start and end at different times. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to deliberately schedule movies to start at the same time. Thus several projection operators are required in multiplex cinemas, substantially increasing labor costs.
Furthermore, it is not unusual to have movies in different film formats. Although modern projection devices can typically play different film formats, the actual format needs to be manually selected by an operator. In addition, frequently a film reel will contain a number of segments. For purposes of discussion herein, segments can include the movie, movie trailers and advertising. The number of segments can vary from reel to reel. Each segment can be in a different film format, therefore requiring an adjustment to the projection system each time a format change occurs. Each segment can be of different length, making it difficult to manually predict when to readjust the projection system. Typically, cinema operators watch for mechanical queues, such as a small flash of light which appears on the upper corner of the screen, and manually change the settings on the projection system when the operator sees the mechanical queue. In large multiplex cinemas, this process requires a large number of operators to monitor and operate the projection equipment as many movies are ongoing at the same time and each may have a different number of segments and sequence of play of segments.
In addition, in a multiplex cinema equipment failures can easily go undetected. Typically, the failures are noticed only by periodic checks by cinema operators or by complaining patrons. Thus, a significant amount of time can pass before the projection operator is aware of the equipment failure.
The system and method of the present invention enables the remote monitoring and control of one or more projection rooms in a cinema. In one embodiment, a cinema controller is coupled to a number of cinema processors to manage the electronics in each projection room of a cinema. Information regarding the movies, start times and film reel content is input to the cinema controller. Using this information, the cinema controller issues the proper control signals to a specific cinema processor in order to play a particular film reel component in its specified format. Using this system, the need for cinema operators to closely monitor and perform manual format adjustments is avoided.